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BREAKING: Wike reduced payment for son’s Abuja land from N200million to N2million – Kingibe
More worms are still crawling out from the can opened against Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), who is being accused of massive corruption in the allocation of lands in Abuja, and other areas, even with him denying any wrongdoing.
Last month, the Minister was accused of allocating an handsome 2,000 hectres of land to his son, in the guise of using it for agricultural purposes, an allegation he flatly denied during an interview with some major television networks in the country, saying there were no area in the federal capital with such expanse of land.
But digging in, on Monday, Ireti Kingibe, Senator representing the FCT at the National Assembly, upped the ante from another level, saying even the Federal Capital Development Authority, the body in charge of deal, was shortchanged in terms of payment for the land.
A guest of Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS television network, Kingibe, who has been waging a long-drawn battle with the Minister over what she resented as his impunity and scant regard for the rule of law, told her host that she had evidence of his activities of sleaze.
One of such evidences, the Senator, one in the only four women in the current 10th
National Assembly, claimed, was that the Minister, withing 48 hours, waived more than N180million from the amount the same son was supposed to pay from the land allocated to him, from over N200million to a paltry N2million, a development she found morally reprehensible.
Hear her: “What I’m trying to say is that I have documents to show that when Minister Wike allocated lands to his son – acres of lands, and as he says, his son is entitled to land, no problem, but the bills – I have the documents – of the N200million that you need to pay, a N100million there that you need to pay, they wrote to him that he should give a waiver to reduce it and within 48 hours you’re going from N200million to N2million.
“It is illegal. At the very least, it is unfair, it is unfair, it is unethical, at the very least. And these things, I’m a civil engineer, I’m a fact person. I wouldn’t come here without having the facts and the documents.”
“I’m definitely not afraid of him and I didn’t say he should be afraid of me. I’m just saying that he should be aware that most things he does, I’ll know. I’m going to take those documents and go to the body, which is equivalent to the state assembly and insist that that assembly does something.
“The President from whom he derives his powers, goes back to the National Assembly for approval of everything and Wike who is deriving powers from him does not go to the National Assembly, except budget. TSA (Treasury Single Account), all his IGR (Internally Generated Revenues), what has he done with it? He never accounted for anything – how are the moneys spent – nothing!
“You cannot get more powers than the person from whom you’re deriving your powers. So, it is now time for more serious oversight of the Minister. Not just me, but the whole body. Some, people have said, don’t shout, don’t complain. But if I cannot speak, then I might as well just resigned my seat. That’s the way I see it.
“The other day, I was just coming back – I went to an oversight in Sokoto and on my way back, a black jeep was following me almost all the way home and I told my driver when he pointed it out – I said what’s the problem, because it was in the night – and he said a black car has been following us – I said from when and he said since we left the airport and I said, don’t go home, go to the busier Gana Street and after a while I asked him to park and the jeep passed.
“But the truth is that I’m a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I have rights and I don’t think that even with Wike’s impunity that he would try to harm me for saying you cannot do ABCD! I’m not afraid of anybody. It’s God who protects. I have security more than an average person. I know normal people go around and they get home safely.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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